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AUSTIN — A group of five Republicans and five Democrats co-authored a bill that would require university regents to be confirmed by the Senate before voting on any budgetary or personnel matters.

Sen. Kel Seliger, R-Amarillo

Kel Seliger, chair of the Senate Higher Education committee, filed the bill in the hopes that it would “lend itself to good and systematic governance in universities.”

Regents, who are appointed by the governor, must have their appointments confirmed by the Senate. Those appointed when the Legislature is not in session still conduct business despite not being confirmed or having completed the requisite training.

Seliger added ethics training to the list of topic areas regents must be well-versed in, which includes budgeting, policy development and governance.

“Ethics is probably something that you can’t accentuate too much,” he said.

Seliger said the bill, filed Monday, is not a reaction but a response to the recent drama between University of Texas at Austin President Bill Powers and the university’s board of regents.

The board has recently come under scrutiny by Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst who announced in February a joint committee to look into alleged micromanaging of Powers by the regents.

“There are 400,000 alumni of UT and probably over a half million of the UT System who have a deep and abiding interest in that university,” Seliger said. “And when they call us, and certainly when they call the lieutenant governor, we owe them some sort of response or attention to their concern. This isn’t about any one administrator, it’s about good governance.”

In the coming weeks no meetings have been scheduled for the Joint Committee on Higher Education Governance, Excellence and Transparency, and Seliger said he isn’t sure about how the two chambers will play together. But he said he’s looking forward to working with Rep. Dan Branch, R-Dallas, the chair of the house higher education committee.

Gov. Rick Perry appointed two new regents and reappointed one to the UT board in February. He also made appointments to the Texas Tech and Texas State University systems. Their appointments are still pending Senate confirmation

Under Seliger’s bill, regents who have been reappointed and have already undergone training will not have to do it again before performing their duties.

Republican legislative leaders Speaker Joe Straus and Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst aren’t showing any new signs of agreement on the school choice debate, a signature issue this session. In fact, they’re pointing out their differences.

Straus, appearing immediately before Dewhurst did at the Texas Business Leadership Council’s education summit Tuesday, said an “open voucher bill” doesn’t have support in the House.

“I’m pretty certain the votes are not there. That’s why I’ve allowed the Senate to do their work on it,” Straus said, to a few chuckles in the audience about his distancing himself from Senate proposals.

The last time a pilot school voucher bill came before the House in 2007, there was an “unpleasant outcome,” Straus said. After a divisive debate, that bill was defeated.

Straus didn’t get behind any other school choice initiatives Tuesday, such open enrollment within a school district.

Dewhurst, noting his differing view from Straus, said he’s a product of public schools and wants to support them, but said he doesn’t want to leave an estimated 315,000 Texas students in academically unacceptable schools.

“I’m mad. I’m mad as hell about that,” Dewhurst said, adding that it takes on average six years to turn a failing school around. He drew applause from the crowd when he said, “We need to focus on the children, not the educators, not the unions.”

Beyond the ability to transfer to better performing public school, the Senate is looking at a “parental trigger” that would allow a high-performing charter school to take over a failing school after two years, Dewhurst said. He also favors a tax credit bill championed by Sen. Dan Patrick, R-Houston, that proposes tuition tax credit for businesses funding scholarships to private and religious schools.

“It is immoral to leave children trapped in failing schools,” Dewhurst said.

Gov. Rick Perry, speaking briefly to the business group, repeated his support for a scholarship program that he said would provide “true choice” for students.

AUSTIN — Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst will wait until tomorrow, at the earliest, to reveal if a committee will look into whether the University of Texas Board of Regents is overstepping its bounds.

Dewhurst addressed the Senate on Monday giving a teary defense of UT-Austin President Bill Powers who has come under fire from some UT regents who have been unhappy with his administration and attempt to raise tuition that was opposed by those regents.

He said he was still unsure what committee will hold the potential hearings that could possibly involve both the House and Senate.

“If we’re getting into a situation where they’re also managing [the institutions], then what we’re looking at is going to be a dysfunctional system,” said Sen. Kel Seliger, R-Amarillo, who is chair of the Senate higher education committee.

Seliger said legislators are getting a lot of complaints from constitutents about the regents “micromanaging the university, possibly to its detriment.”

“For a board of regents to try to run somebody off is ridiculous, they can fire him and hire somebody else,” he said. “Simply making things tough or letting allegations develop is irresponsibile. It’s not the right way to treat your employees either.”

Powers was honored in both chambers on Monday and an impassioned Dewhurst said he had “never seen a situation” whether university regents, who are appointed by the governor, tried to circumvent the president to make decisions about an institution. He also mentioned letters denigrating the reputation of Powers’ family.

“I do think there’s a lot more going on behind the scenes in an effort to make life miserable for President Powers,” said Sen. Kevin Eltife, R-Tyler.”We should be building our institutions up not tearing them down.”

In this November 2012 photo, UT Austin President Bill Powers poses for a photo. Convinced the state board was hell-bent on turning their beloved “university of the first class” required by the Texas constitution into a downmarket trade school, faculty, students and alumni have rallied behind Powers in protest.

AUSTIN — Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst made a strong bid in the Senate in favor of University of Texas at Austin President Bill Powers on Monday, but in the House the honor was a little more subdued.

Rep. Dan Branch, R-Dallas, was less emotional than Dewhurst, but still sang Powers’ praises saying he has “been an outstanding president of the University of Texas.”

“He stands at the lead of so many of those great university leaders,” said Branch, who authored a resolution to honor Powers.

Powers was being recognized as a co-winner of the John G. Fleming Memorial Prize for Torts Scholarship and his nomination to the vice chairmanship of the Association of American Universities, an association of 62 public and private research universities in the U.S. and Canada.

The routine honor comes after what some are calling a “heated” questioning of Powers at a system board meeting. He has served as president of the university since 2006.

Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst made some changes to the lineup of the Senate leadership today, among them Sen. Judith Zaffirini, D-Laredo, and Sen. Dan Patrick, R-Houston, which could affect policy, particularly dealing with education, in the coming legislative session.

Zaffirini, who formerly chaired the Higher Education Committee, will now be the chair of the Senate Committee on Government Organization, previously chaired by Sen. Rodney Ellis, D-Houston. She said she is disappointed, but will continue to work with higher education as co-chair of the Oversight Committee on Higher Education Governance Excellence and Transparency.

“I will remain in the forefront of the higher education issues and look forward to the new issues relating to the Sunset Commission,” Zaffirini said.

The new committee she will chair is where Sunset legislation will be considered, including bills related to the Higher Education Coordinating Board and the Railroad Commission, which are up for review this year. Zaffirini said she has been trying to get more involved in the Railroad Commission because a lot of the rigs and production of Eagle Ford Shale are in her district.

Sen. Kel Seliger, R-Amarillo, is said to replace her.

“[Dewhurst] is the lieutenant governor, he doesn’t have inform us, he doesn’t have to consider our priorities or expertise, it’s his right, that is his power, so it’s his decision,” she said.

Patrick will replace the retiring Sen. Florence Shapiro, R-Plano, as chairman of the Senate Education Committee. Patrick has previously pushed his support for a school voucher program that would allow parents to send their children to private schools.

“Elections have consequences,” Zaffirini said. “The fact of the matter is that the state of Texas is more conservative than ever, the legislature will be more conservative than ever and it will have a strong Republican majority and these appointments reflect that.”

Gov. Rick Perry, speaking at a conference Thursday about his plans to encourage schools to be more transparent with funding, create $10,000 degrees, freeze tuition for four years, and utilize outcomes-based funding, said he doesn’t care who is chairman as long as they keep their focus on the right goals.

“I can promise you as Judith Zaffirini is making the transition from one committee to another, her passion … focus … interests haven’t changed, and she’s still going to be a power to deal with in the Senate whether she’s the chairman of the higher ed committee or some other committee,” he said.